A FINAL WARNING; THIS STORY CONTAINS SPOILERS. DO NOT READ IF;

#1 YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED THE GAME

#2 YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS

This story will be a few chapters long, I hope, I will be juggling it with my Professor Layton story and two other ideas I have on the go. I hope that there are some people out there who will enjoy this piece but, regardless, I need some Haytham fics so I will be continuing ;)

Snow crunched under each step of his boot, the sound satisfying in the beautiful silence of the frontier. He was used to city life, he thrived in such environments, but it was always nice to take some time out to enjoy the countryside. Since coming to Boston, to the Colonies, he had had very little chance to actually take time out and relax. Recruiting those sympathetic to his cause had taken all of his free time. Although it was the mission with which he had been charged and the entire reason he was even in the country it was nice to have a few hours to just think. So much was going on, trying to locate the precursor site, and freeing the slaves, even taking care of that tyrant Silas. The fact that Benjamin had dealt with him made no difference, he was still gone.

The soft crunch of snow underfoot soon changed to a much heavier sound as he travelled from the beaten path through the thick snow. He grimaced when the snow nearly came up to his knee, far past the top of his boot. His toes were cold enough as it was without his whole lower leg having to join in. He wasn't used to travelling across the countryside and the trees were out of the question. When following Ziio he had attempted to follow her in the canopy and that had only resulted in him nearly twisting his ankle. Such an injury would have crippled him for too long in his mind; he needed to be able to free run to properly carry out his tasks.

He was sure he looked like an imbecile as he picked one leg up high to take the next step but the snow was far too deep to do anything else. He would be exhausted after a few metres if he tried to force his way through the deep snow, lifting over it was the only way. He wasn't use to such temperatures and such depths of snow. His breath puffed out in front of him in white clouds, almost blending in with his white surroundings. Everything was white.

The truth of it was, he had not come out here just for a walk. He had come out in search of Ziio but had no idea where she was staying. He had travelled to Concord and through Lexington to no avail. He knew that she lived in a village in the Northern part of the frontier and had begun his journey North. He had entered the Frontier from Boston and travelled South-East then North again. His internal compass was spot on.

From time to time he stumbled across some redcoats but they were quickly dispatched. Blood stained the snow but he managed to successfully hide the corpses in a variety of bushes and hay bales. Usually he would just abandon them but the red coats stood out against the snow like a sore thumb. He had yet to come across any of the dangerous animals which inhabited the forest but there was plenty of land yet to transverse.

He stilled when a rustling in the bushes caught his attention. He was deathly still, not wanting to aggravate whatever wild creature may be lurking in the wilderness. He wasn't sure where he was now but, thinking back on the map he had been reading down in the Green Dragon Tavern, he was somewhere around the Diamond Basin. And that was close to where Ziio's village was located. He was close to finding her!

He let out a sigh relief when a fox rushed out of the bush and scurried away with a squeak of fear, the little creature obviously hadn't expected to see a human. He smiled to himself and let the fox run off; he had no reason to harm it. Up ahead was a rocky outcrop which rose several metres into the air. It would be perfect to get a better look at his surroundings.

He picked his way through the snow to the first rock and hauled himself onto the giant boulder. He took a moment to brush the snow from his trousers, the cold stinging his hands. But he wasn't too bothered now. At first the snow had bitten into him a lot worse but he was gradually getting used to the cold. Unless he found the precursor site this place would end up being his new home.

The cold wind blew past him causing his ponytail and robes to flap in the breeze. A particularly strong gust nearly took his hat from his head and he quickly held it down.

"Nice try, Mother nature." He muttered good heartedly to the open world.

It was difficult to get a particularly good view of the surrounding lands due to the thick trees which grew but he could just about make out a wooden palisade a couple of hundred metres away. But the biggest difficulty he had in getting there was making his way down the sheer cliff that stood between him and the village. It looked like it would take him a while to skirt around it but he had time. He was glad he had left the horse behind; the poor beast would not have managed this.

He carefully held onto a thick tree branch and tried to slide his way down the small part of the slope. The rest he would have to be more careful with. About one hundred metres away but only three or four metres further down from his starting point he heard another rustling noise. But this time it was accompanied by a low warning growl.

"Wolves.." He sighed, a flick of his wrist drawing his hidden blade from the old gauntlet he still wore. The Assassin insignia may be rusted but the blade was in perfect condition. And he would need it.

The beast growled and leapt from the bushes. Haytham quickly dropped to one knee and the wolf flew over his back but the beast quickly turned and lunged for the Templar again. Its large jaws closed around his forearm but thankfully his gauntlet was thick enough to dull the impact of its sharp teeth. He swung around and slammed the canine into a tree. It yelped and let go, dropping to the snowy ground where he plunged his hidden blade through its throat, ending its life.

Haytham was really quite proud of himself. He wiped the blade off in the beast's fur then let it retract back into its mechanism. He had dealt with a rabid dog or two in his travels around Europe but never had he had to dispatch a wolf before. And he thought he had done quite a good job of it.

He wiped a bit of slobber off his gauntlet and turned to continue on his journey when suddenly.. A roar, the likes of which he had never heard before sent the nearby rabbits racing into their hidey holes. The Templar abruptly turned to face his attacker, total shock filled his body and suddenly it all went dark.